I whipped myself up some home made chalk paint with some black paint and Plaster of Paris I had on hand. Painted the table with two coats of the mixture, then sanded and finaly finished with a coat of dark walnut Minwax stain. After everything was dry I sealed with a coat of Shellac for a shiney finish.

Monday, February 13, 2012

I'm totally hooked on making my own chalk paint...all the furniture in my house better be on high alert...PREPARE TO BE ALTERED! bahahaha! I'd like to think I am taking old pieces from BLAH to BAM using my new found love for chalk paint.

My lofty goal is to make over my entire bedroom with what we already have or by making something rather than going out and buying new. We are preparing to move to a new home and I think e re-done pieces will be so fresh for our new Master Bedroom. So this will be our DIY master suite by Katie! : ) Be watching for the bedroom to be made over piece by piece (slowly but surely???).

This is my hubs tall boy dresser, we have matching nightstands and a low dresser as well. It's all Ethan Allen sturdy solid wood furniture just out dated looking. I totally loved the stenciled number look from the Growth Chart (a.k.a. Super sized rulers) I made earlier this year and wanted to do something with those for this project. See BLAH...

With a little off white chalk paint (add 1 part Plaster of Paris to 2 parts paint) and some sanding you get this~! BAM!

I love it - the hubs isn't so sure about the numbers though. Oh well, happy wife = happy life! Off to my next chalk paint project...a curvy little end table that is destined to be distressed in black paint.
Tennis

In my hectic schedule I forever have a to-do list that is waiting to be checked off. I don't often get to those non-essentials on the list BUT I did find time to submit ONE scrapbooking layout to Creating Keepsakes back in June/July and it was selected for pulication. After a loooonnnngggg wait, it just now came out. Go me!

This is my first major magazine publication and I couldn't be happier. I am flattered that they chose me to be included in a magazine that I have loved for YEARS and that everyone gets to see my cute daughters face : ) It's a proud mama moment. If you want to check out the layout - see page 33 of the newest issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. It's the front page of the Readers Gallery!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Let's be honest...I have a fascination with junk! I am forever picking up random old junk in the hopes of coming up with a creative plan to make something out of it. Not sure what my follow thru success rate is with that but at least I have ONE to brag about today...

I purchased this crappy old screen door for $15 at a garage sale.

It set outside for awhile...longer than I care to admit (see it piled among my other loved junking finds) but given the nice winter we are having here in lovely NW Arkansas, and overwhelming inspiration from Pinterest, I've been tackling lots of DIY projects! I decided to transform this old door into a message center for our hallway. Our family needs something functiontional to write family notes on, pin up school notes, and keep track of our life in general. Something functional & cute to look at was the order...and a family project was what we got!

I had my 10 year old daughter sanding away the old chipping paint to give us a good surface to work with.

Then I painted it this cheery Red color and stained it with a Mohogany Minwax stain to keep it looking aged & distressed. I also painted a chalkboard to go in the large end and stamped some burlap pieces mounted on corkboard for the smaller squares.

Then I employed the hubs to help me put it all together. He routered in each of the elements as his contribution so we now have a large chalkboard area on the left, a skinny magnetic area in the middle and 4 burlap squares on the right side which are backed with cork so we can use push pins to them. I'm also considering add a clip to two of those area to function as a clipboard perhaps.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

My sweet daughter is growing into a(sometimes) sweet young lady. I love being her mama and feel blessed to be along for the ride with her. I am so thankful she has her daddy to love and adore her too. We each have our own special reltaionship with her. I look forward to drill weekends when he is away because it means a day or two for just Kaia & mommy doing girl stuff. But this Friday night it was all about Dad!

Thanks to my lovely friends Jenn for taking this sweet photo of my two loves!

New dress, shoes, jewlery plus some hair (dont' forget the tiara) & lil' make up and my little girl looks like a lady. She was swooning over the corsage - a special surprise from daddy from Bloom on the square in Bentonville (my FAV place for gorgeous flowers!).

The two danced the night away, learning the waltz and some line dancing moves as well. They came home soaking wet due to a downpoor but with smiles on their face. - love them

Sunday, February 5, 2012

It's been a unique experience to see the impact of Crystal Bridges Museum opening up in our home town, Bentonville, Arkansas. It's an architectual beauty filled with American art and full of historical pieces. Our town now has tourist signs and new developments going up to support this attraction which has art lovers from around the world coming to gander at the collection it houses.

Our family made our first visit last weekend, I thought perhaps some of the traffic would have died down since it opening in November but it was a lively place full of patrons, young & old. The outside was as beautiful as the masterpieces on the inside - trails, waters & sculptures surround the museum.

Art time for the little ones in the hands on area.

Kaia & Daddy on the overlooking balcony.

My favorite piece of art...they also had this MIND-BLOWING piece I didn't get a picture of made entirely of thread bobbins creating the Last Supper. WOW!

The little kiddos seemed to like the modern 3-D art pieces. Doesn't this guy look real?

My husband could read every plaque on the wall!

Overall our visit to the museum was eye opening and I'm already looking forward to hiking around the trails and really taking in all that the museum has to offer. If you are in the NWA area you need to go visit - a cultural experience & it's FREE too so it makes for a great day outing with the family.